Former Gov. David Paterson and his stepson, Anthony Sliwa, turned into the dynamic duo as they fought off ruffians who pounced on them during a spat on the Upper East Side, the 70-year-old recounted Saturday.
“I got punched in the face a couple of times and I got punched on the shoulder, but the person who punched me on the shoulder, I threw them against the McDonalds window myself,” Paterson, who is legally blind, said of the 8:30 p.m. Friday night attack.
Sliwa, 20, son of Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, is trained in martial arts and was holding off as many of the attackers as he could around near East 97th Street and Second Avenue, Paterson said.
“But then it became four to one, five to one, six to one, and he was knocked to the ground, and dazed by the experience,” Paterson told reporters at a press conference.
The brouhaha unfolded as Paterson and Sliwa took the family pup, Bella, for her nightly walk and saw a group of teens climbing a fire escape.
Sliwa admonished them out of fear for the safety of them and others, Paterson said.
“They came down, they had kind of a brief argument and that was the end of that,” said Paterson, who served as New York’s governor from 2008 to 2010.
About 45 minutes later, Paterson and Sliwa were walking on East 97th Street and ran into the same teens — but the group had swelled to about nine people, Paterson said.
“We have a big argument about whether or not they should be climbing up the building, about whether or not it’s our business, at which point a woman who’s clearly an adult, at least in her 30s, comes into the situation and confronts my stepson to the point where she’s practically pushing him into the window at McDonalds,” he said.
“When the fight first started, she threw the first punch,” Paterson recalled, adding “another adult was the second one to throw punches.”
The pair was outnumbered but his stepson did everything he could to protect him.
“When the fight first started, he pulled somebody off of me, and then later in the fight, there were just too many people for him to try to handle…it’s really fortunate that it wasn’t worse than it is,” Paterson said.
Paterson bragged was still able to take an attacker down himself.
“On the other hand, I got in a fight with some kid who I was able to throw to the ground at the end, and come and grab my son,” Paterson said. “One of our neighbors was passing by and we were able to retreat and call 911.”
Sliwa ended up with five stitches in his lower lips and multiple bruises, Paterson said. Sliwa declined to be interviewed.
“He was pretty badly injured in the confrontation,” Paterson said. “He’s walking around and I think more than anything, he is shell-shocked from the fact that the incident happened.”
Paterson, who said the mayor hadn’t called him yet about the attack, said he has faith the NYPD will catch the suspects — and added he is not rethinking taking his dog for walks at night.
“I really feel that the New York City police are going to find out who these people are and are going to make sure that the justice system addresses them,” he said.
In the end, Paterson took the attack in stride.
“This is New York City,” he said. “I’ve lived here just about all of my life. I love this city.”
